Hey, it’s been a while since I wrote. That time – a good amount of it between jobs – has been spent starting and finishing a few gaming single player adventures. It’s good to see that some games are still worth playing, for entertainment and I guess for enrichment.
Here’s a quick recount.
Well, it was a fun ride; I’ve moved on from Lolapps, and as of this posting, a week from starting a new gig at the big G (really, that’s Google, not “grad school” as someone had guessed…). The experience has been enormously educational:
I’d easily recommend any aspiring entrepreneurs, engineers, or web-savvy netizens to try their hands on similar opportunities. That said, after having fought the battles and learned the lessons for the better part of two years, I realized it was time for me to bow out of the system and return to more traditional software products.
Here’s why.
This past weekend was a blur of video games. Well, game, really; I had a pretty long marathon going through Uncharted 2, the new Playstation 3 game modeled after the likes of summer blockbusters, particularly those of Indiana Jone-sean vibe. The last time a game warranted a marathon gaming session from me was upon the release Metal Gear Solid 4, another story-driven masterpiece.
I should do one or two more before I get too old and mature to spend my free hours appreciating virtual worlds and plotlines.
In my ongoing rant against idiots in general, let’s spend a little time to talk about…idiot gamers.
If you haven’t heard, we at LOLapps have started experimenting with gaming, specifically social games on Facebook. I’ve made the lateral move into our gaming division, and of course with that comes plenty of complex front-end graphical and UI responsibilities.
It’s a measuredly harder task than building a blog or simple one-time apps on Facebook. Implementing rich, engaging, user-friendly interfaces is hard work.
Fifty-five months.
By my reckoning, that’s how long we’ve been playing Defense of the Ancients, a popular mod off of the also-popular Warcraft III. Through the better part of a decade, we’ve engaged in a series of sometimes-epic, usually-fun battles built on top an aged engine (1). Matter of fact, I had to go back to a previous version of the site to find my blog post about the game; it was that long ago.
I’ve probably obtained more value out of this one game than pretty much any other form of entertainment or vacation. It comes out to about 20 cents an hour – assuming an hour a week of gaming for 5 years – on a $40 purchase price. Certainly more economical than, say, a movie ($5/hour or so) or slamming down drinks at a club ($20+/hour, depending on alcohol consumption limits).
Street Fighter IV makes me feel like a child again. Back then, I was one of those Asian kids who’d hang out at the local arcade/convenience store on a rainy day (1). Holding a buck to frugally dispense over the course of an hour, a lot of time was spent watching other people play; y’know, those teenagers and their disposable income.
The game of choice for the longest time was Street Fighter II and its derivatives. I wasn’t good enough (nor had the cash) to play the game well, but watching a line of skilled players made me appreciate their craft, the time and effort used to hone their virtual fighting prowess. Of all the stupid things people choose to compete in, controlling virtual characters with a joystick – which in no way mimic fights in reality would dictate – is probably one of the sillier mediums.